Various methods are available for mounting spare wheels and tires on motor vehicles and especially vehicles of the light-duty cargo and recreational types such as pickup trucks. With pickup trucks, a first method is to suspend the spare wheel and tire horizontally beneath the frame at the rear of the truck in a type of suspension apparatus. With this method, if the spare must be used, the device can be released dropping the tire beneath the truck where it can be pulled out for use. The principal drawback of this mounting is that the spare wheel and tire is exposed to mud, dirt, salt, as well as water and the like thereby causing the wheel and tire to corrode and otherwise deteriorate. Also, such method makes use of the tire very difficult because of the caked-on mud, dirt, and the like as well as the extremely inconvenient position in which the tire is secured.
A second method is to mount the spare inside the cargo box of the pickup truck either horizontally somewhat on the floor of the box or vertically atop the floor along one of the sides. These methods are undesirable because the horizontal method utilizes a large amount of the cargo storage space and prevents the insertion of camper units which must be slid into the box along the floor. The prior known vertical mounting has similar drawbacks in that it projects above the side wall of the box also preventing the insertion of camper units into the truck. Such projection above the side wall also makes the vertical mounting extremely unsafe especially when the tire is mounted against one side wall immediately behind the cab of the truck on the opposite side from the driver. The upward projection substantially blocks the driver's view over that side of the truck preventing him from seeing traffic on his right or other objects when he is backing up.
A third method for mounting spare wheels and tires on pickup trucks is on the outside of the box or inside the side walls of the box through a door accessible from the outside of the box. The former of these third methods also exposes the spare to varying weather conditions having the above-noted drawbacks as well as making the wheel and tire extremely accessible to theft. When the spare is mounted in the side wall through a door, it of course can be locked therein but such mountings are expensive and necessitate the manufacture of a separate tire compartment within the wall of the truck.